“I love you,” I say, more to reassure myself than anything.
“I love you too. Are you ready to go?”
“Yep, as ready as I will ever be.” Which is not at all. Cole stands and grabs the carry-on.
“Is this all you are taking?” Cole asks, feeling how light the bag is.
“Yes, I have an entire closet full of clothes at my house.”
“Did you pack anything?” He shakes the bag again.
Great. I have no idea what he means by that. This is my family we are talking about, not his. I don’t need to impress them with my seven-hundred-dollar shoes.
I have just the answer he needs to leave me alone about it. “Just lace underwear,” I wag my eyebrows and smile.
“Cookie,” he chides playfully.
I stand up and we walk out of the bedroom together. Luke is waiting for us, and he takes my bag.
“My earring,” I remember. Cole pulls it out of his pocket. I pull the back out of my jean pocket and put the earrings on. I feel both in my ears, for reassurance.
When we get outside, the shiny red Ferrari is waiting for us, causing my demeanor to take a delightful turn north. “You’re really going to let me drive it? Can I drive all the way to the airport?” I don’t wait for Cole to answer. I automatically walk around to the driver’s side.
“Do you know how to drive it? A Ferrari can be tricky.”
“That’s what you’re for, Mr. Ferrari, you’ll teach me.”
Cole chuckles. “All right, you know I’ll let you. But not until we get out of the city. When we’re on highway 93.”
“Uh—what? That’s the opposite direction of the airport. The only reason we would take 93 is to get to…” the realization of what he’s saying hits me. “No. You want to drive to Idaho? Why? When it will take ten minutes to get there on your jet. It will take us ten hours to get to Crystal Falls in the Ferrari,” I huff in frustration. I can’t do this, it’s too much. I turn around and head back toward the main doors, but Cole catches my arm.
“Listen,” his voice is soft and low. I can tell he’s exerting some energy to not let his temper flare. “The jet is unavailable, I had to send some employees to New York, so we’re driving.”
His tone makes it clear this argument is over, but it’s far from over. Hasn’t he ever heard of a commercial flight? I know it must be hard to lower himself to such standards—but come on! I open my mouth to tell him this, and he gives me that look—the one that says we’re done talking about it. I pull my hand out of his and walk over to the dumb red convertible and get in. I even manage to do up my damn seatbelt. This day is not turning out well. Why is every day with Cole either a disaster or paradise? I can’t complain, it started out great, first in bed and then again in the shower. But if I’m keeping score, I’m back at zero.
Cole gets in the car, looking me over. He fingers my seatbelt, letting his hand skim over my breast and linger. My body automatically reacts to him. I feel my nipples harden and several pleasurable sensations shoot down my belly to my core. But I quickly stifle the feelings, scrunching my eyebrows at him, and he copies me mockingly. I cross my arms with a humph and turn my head out the window. Then I notice the Escalade idling behind us. Of course, we can’t go anywhere without Luke. I sulk in defeat.
Cole puts the 458 Spider into drive and thanks to light traffic, we are on US-93 headed north in less than twenty minutes. My mood hasn’t lightened, and the tension is still thick between us. I fidget with my wedding rings. I was too excited, nervous, and a few other emotions to notice the ring Cole gave me last night. The ring is beautiful. It’s not vintage, but the band complements my engagement ring nicely. The ring is an eternity band with brilliant round diamonds, each encased in prong settings. Each diamond looks to be about a half carat. I haven’t taken the time to count the diamonds, but I’m sure the carat count is somewhere around ten.
I play with it, and Cole clasps my hand, bringing it to his lips, kissing my rings and finger. “Do you like it?”
I sigh. I’d like to hold on to my anger, but it won’t do me any good. We’re on our way and my annoyance over it now will only cause more problems. “Yes, it’s exquisite. Thank you for it.” Cole kisses my hand again, then sits it on his thigh, lightly massaging it.
“Are you still upset?” he asks, eying me.
“No, but I wish you would’ve been up front with me; instead of dumping the situation on me like that.”
“Here is the problem with that, Kate; if I had told you, we’d still be at the villa and odds are—you'd be holed up in the bathroom.”
I scrunch my eyebrows at him for the umpteenth time today. He assumes a lot—but he has a point. I guess Cole knows me better than I think.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“Why couldn’t we have flown commercial?” I’m not going to admit that he may have been right about that one.
“I thought this would be fun.”
I shake my head. “This is really hard for me, Cole. I’m not sure how my parents are going to take this; they aren’t happy, that much was evident from my conversation with them last night. It’s going to take a lot to placate them. Honestly, I worry we can’t.”